


keep me sane

by moonchild2593



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, F/M, Fluff, Iron Man 3 Compliant, Pepperony Week, The Avengers (2012) Compliant, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 21:53:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19777186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonchild2593/pseuds/moonchild2593
Summary: To Tony, a bed had always meant one of two things: sex or exhausted, restless sleep. He prefered the former by a great deal, but since he wasn't really one to cuddle with those ladies after they were done, it's not like he spent too much time in bed either... And then came Pepper.





	keep me sane

To Tony, a bed had always meant one of two things: sex or exhausted, restless sleep. He prefered the former by a great deal, but since he wasn't really one to cuddle with those ladies after they were done, it's not like he spent too much time in bed either. Normally, they'd be asleep by the time he got out of the shower and he was free to stumble down to his lab to tinker with one thing or another while drinking some coffee or scotch. He never once felt bad about leaving them up there alone because he prided himself in the fact that whatever he did in bed-or any other place, for that matter- was more than satisfactory. 

All that changed when he began dating Pepper. His bed, slowly but surely, started becoming a safe haven instead of a war zone. 

At first, all they'd do was get to know each other's bodies, inside and out- quite literally. They spent hours and hours sweaty and naked and breathless tangled in the sheets, experimenting and touching, laughing and gasping, screaming and moaning. Tony was quite sure that those were some of the happiest memories of his entire life. 

It became the place were they talked. Really talked. 

She listened quietly when he talked about how his mother sung him to sleep until he was ten and how utterly terrible he felt about disappointing her when she found out he had tried cocaine in the back of a car at fourteen. 

He learned about her family and friends. How her college boyfriend had cheated on her with her best friend Julie, and how the only time she had ever felt as betrayed was when she found out her mom had cancer and chose not telling her about it, denying her the chance of taking care of her.

He told her about how scared he really was when his college-friend-with-benefit got pregnant and wouldn't tell him if she would keep the baby. He was only sixteen and terrified, something he had never admitted out loud before. He had always laughed it off, something that had infuriated Rhodey to no end. 

She told him about the time she went skinny dipping in his pool on a dare and he didn't think he could be more in love If he tried. 

He told her he thought he loved her one quiet morning and she told him she knew she loved him back. 

While he still didn't sleep half as many hours as Pepper did, he still stayed right there with her in his arms, holding her as close as he possibly could, her quiet breathing keeping him grounded. 

When he did wake from a nightmare, she was there, keeping him sane. 

Whenever Pepper was away on business, he didn't spend any time in their bed. He slept on the couch or not at all, because that bed wasn't his bed any longer, it was theirs. And without her in it, it wasn't a safe place any longer, it was a hole filled with loneliness. 

But when she was there, it was his favorite place in the entire universe.


End file.
